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http://www.answeringislam.org/Shamoun/ishmael.htm
Ishmael is not the Father of Muhammad
by Sam Shamoun
BUKTI:
1) PARAN, TEMPAT TINGGAL ISHMAEL, JAUH DARI MEKAH
Menurut Injil, Ishmael menetap di Paran dan menikahi wanita Mesir dan memiliki 12 putera.
Ttg Hagar (ibu Ishmael) & Ishmael dan keberadaan mereka di Paran bisa dilihat di: Genesis 21:13-21. Injil mengatakan bahwa PARAN berada didekat Israel (Canaan) dan Mesir, sebelah selatan Judah.
John L. McKenzie dlm Dictionary of the Bible menulis:
Paran (Hb pa'ran, nama yg sering digunakan bagi wilayah gurun pasir).
Nama Elparan (Gn 14:6) memang ada hubungannya dgn gurun pasir. Gurun pasir Paran adalah tempat tinggal kaum Ishmael (Gn 21:21).
Menurut PENTATEUCH, wilayah ini bisa diraih orang Israel setelah melewati Gurun Sinai (Nm 10:12). Dlm Deuteronomy, Paran digambarkan sbg sebuah tempat di gurun. 'Hadad dari Edom melewati gurun Paran dlm perjalanannya dari Midian* ke Mesir' (1 Kings 11:18).
... Paran adalah wilayah selatan Judah. Gurun Paran kemungkinan adalah wilayah Negeb*, sebelah selatab Kadesh-barnea*. (McKenzie, p. 637)
"Inilah kata2 Musa kpd Israel yg diucapkannya di gurun sebelah timur
Jordan ... antara Paran dan Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. (dari
Horeb keo Kadesh Barnea lewat jalan Mount Seir memakan waktu 11 hari.)" Deuteronomy 1:1-2
NAH, ini jelas menunjukkan bahwa Paran tidak sedikitpun berada didekat Mekah.
Lebih lanjut:
"Kini (Raja) Samuel mati; dan seluruh Israel berkumpul dan menangisi kepergiannya. Mereka menguburnya di tempat asalnya, Ramah. Lalu (Raja) Daud pergi dan menuju ke Paran." 1 Samuel 25:1
Apakah in berarti bahwa Raja Daud pergi ke Mekah (Paran versi Muslim) setelah kematian Samuel ?
Lihatlah lagi hubungan antara Paran dgn tempat2 yg dinamakan Seir dan Teman:
Deuteronomy 33:1-2
1 Kings 11:17-19
"Tuhan datang dari Teman, dari Bukit Paran. Kejayaannya meliputi langit dan bumi." Habakkuk 3:3
Menarik bahwa Bukit Paran dihubung2kan dgn Seir dan Teman. Baik Seir dan Teman diasosiasikan dgn Edom. Ini McKenzie ttg lokasi Seir and Teman:
Seir (Hb se'ir), a geographical name; Seir is associated with Esau* and Edom* and the association is expressed in a play on the words se'ar, "goat," and sa'ir, "hairy," in Gn 25:25; 27:11, 23. The name appears as the designation of a land, of a mountain, and as a gentilic. There is no doubt that the mountain is the chain which extends SW of the Dead Sea along the W side of the Arabah*, rising to an average height of 5000 ft. The name was later extended to the corresponding mountain chain on the E side of the Arabah. As a territorial designation the term is used more loosely of the region adjacent to the mountain chain, substantially identical with the territory of Edom ... Israelite tradition itself recognized that the claim of Edom to Seir and its settlement there were older than its own claim to Canaan. It was the region of Esau the brother of Jacob ... The mountain becomes a loose designation of its inhabitants as "the men of Seir or Mt Seir" (2 Ch 20:10, 22f; 25:11, 14); these must be the Edomites ... (McKenzie, pp. 783-784)
Teman (Hb teman, "bagian selatan"), a place name; a region of Edom (Je 49:7; Ezk 25:13; Am 1:12; Ob 9) mentioned with Dedan* (Ezk 25:13), famous for its wise men (Je 49:7), the place from which Yahweh appears (Hab 3:3; mentioned with Mt Paran*); genealogically reckoned a descendant of Esau and a son of Eliphaz (Gn 36:11, 15, 42; 1 Ch 1:36, 53). The situation is unknown except that it must be in the territory of Edom. Very frequently in the OT teman is used to signify simply "south" as a point of direction. (McKenzie, p. 872)
J. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, p. 897 menyatakan:
TEMAN.- A tribe (district) of Edom.
Berdasarkan diatas, tidak mengherankan bahwa Hadad pergi dari Edom
ke Mesir lewat Paran. Tidak masuk akal kalau Hadad harus pergi dari Edom ke Mesir lewat Mekah.
Juga tidak ada bukti, kecuali dari tradisi Muslim, bahwa Ishmael pernah menikahi wanita Jurhumit. Perjanjian Lama mencatat bahwa ia menikahi wanita Mesir. Perjanjian Lama juga mengatakan dimana tempat tinggal putera2 Ishmael:
"Ini kesaksian putera Abraham, Ismael, yg dilahirkan Hagar, wanita Mesir pembantu Sarah (istri Ibrahim). Ini nama2 para putera Ishmael, dlm urutan kelahiran : Nebaioth, putera pertama. Lalu Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.
Inilah nama2 putera Ishmael yang juga menjadi pemimpin ke-12 suku Israel. Ishmael hidup selama 137 tahun. Keturunannya menetap di kawasan dari Havilah sampai Shur, didekat perbatasan Mesir.
Dan mereka kesemuanya akhirnya bermusuhan." Genesis 25:12-18
McKenzie menunjuk lokasi Shur disekitar Palestina dan Mesir:
Shur (Hb sur), a geographical name which designates the slopes of Palestine and E of Egypt and N of the deserts of the Sinai peninsula. The Hb word suggests sur, "wall", and some geographers have thought that the name alludes to the line of fortresses constructed by the Egyptians to protect the E frontier of Egypt. The region is the scene of the flight of Hagar* in the account of J (Gn 16:7). Abraham dwelt for a time in the Negeb* between Kadesh* and Shur (Gn 20:1). The Israelites traversed the desert of Shur after crossing the Sea of Reeds (Ex 15:22). The area from Havilah* to Shur was the home of the Amalekites* and other nomad tribes (Gn 25:18; 1 S 15:7; 27:8). (McKenzie, pp. 810-811)
Ini secara konklusif mendemonstrasikan bahwa tidak seorangpun dari Ishmael ataupun ke 12 puteranya tinggal di Mekah.
Beberapa keturunan ke 12 putera Ishmael memang migrasi ke wilayah
Arabia. Contoh Nebaioth, nenek moyang kaum Nabatean. Pada abad 4 SM, mereka berkembang biak di Arabia Utara, pertama2 di ibukota Yordania, Petra, yg kemudian direbut tentara Romawi pd th 106 SM. Mereka kemudian pindah ke Damascus.
2) MUSLIM SENDIRI YG BILANG BAHWA BANGSA ARAB EKSIS JAUH SEBELUM LAHIRNYA ISHMAEL.
Ada keturunan Ishmael yg menetap di Arabia, tapi apakah ini berarti bahwa mereka adalah nenek moyang Arab ? Tradisi Muslim mengatakan tidak: Ishmael BUKAN nenek moyang Arab.
Mari kita lihat buktinya:
Biografi Ibn Ishaq ttg Muhamad menulis:
Ishmael adalah putera Ibrahim b. Tarih (Azar) b. Nahur b. Sarugh b. Rau'u b. Falikh b. 'Aybar b. Shalikh b. Arfakhshadh b. Sam (Shem) b. Nuh (Noah). (Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, tr. Guillaume, p. 3)
Lalu melihat silsilah Noah kita mendapatkan :
'Ad b. 'Aus b. Iram b. Sam b. Nuh dan Thamud dan Jadis kedua putera 'Abir b. Iram b. Sam b. Nuh, dan Tasm dan 'Imlaq dan Umayan putera2 Lawidh b. Sam b. Nuh kesemuanya Arab. Nabit b. Isma'il menurunkan Yashjub dan silsilahnya menjadi : Ta'rub-Tayrah-Bahur-Muqawwan-Udad-'Adnan. (Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad, tr. Guillaume, p. 4)
Ini menunjukkan bahwa kaum Arab EKSIS JAUH SEBELUM LAHIRNYA ISHMAEL. Jadi, bertentangan dgn pendapat Muslim, bangsa Arab
MEMANG moyangnya Ishmael.
Kedua, Hadis sama sekali berbeda dgn data2 dr Injil. Hadis mengatakan bahwa setelah menetap di Mekah, Ishmael menikah 2 kali dgn dua
wanita keturunan Arab :
Narrated Ibn Abbas:
The first lady to use a girdle was the mother of Ishmael. She used a girdle so that she might hide her tracks from Sarah. Abraham brought her and her son Ishmael while she was suckling him, to a place near the Ka'ba under a tree on the spot of Zam-zam, at the highest place in the mosque. During those days there was nobody in Mecca, nor was there any water. So he made them sit over there and placed near them a leather bag containing some dates, and a small water-skin containing some water, and set out homeward. Ishmael's mother followed him saying, "O Abraham! Where are you going, leaving us in this valley where there is no person whose company we may enjoy, nor is there anything (to enjoy)?" She repeated that to him many times, but he did not look back at her. Then she asked him, "Has Allah ordered you to do so?" He said, "Yes." She said, "Then He will not neglect us," and returned while Abraham proceeded onwards, and on reaching the Thaniya where they could not see him, he faced the Ka'ba, and raising both hands, invoked Allah saying the following prayers:
"O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Your Sacred House (Kaba at Mecca) in order, O our Lord, that they may offer prayer perfectly. So fill some hearts among men with love towards them, and (O Allah) provide them with fruits, so that they may give thanks.' (14.37) Ishmael's mother went on suckling Ishmael and drinking from the water (she had).
When the water in the water-skin had all been used up, she became thirsty and her child also became thirsty. She started looking at him (i.e. Ishmael) tossing in agony; She left him, for she could not endure looking at him, and found that the mountain of Safa was the nearest mountain to her on that land. She stood on it and started looking at the valley keenly so that she might see somebody, but she could not see anybody. Then she descended from Safa and when she reached the valley, she tucked up her robe and ran in the valley like a person in distress and trouble, till she crossed the valley and reached the Marwa mountain where she stood and started looking, expecting to see somebody, but she could not see anybody. She repeated that (running between Safa and Marwa) seven times."
The Prophet said, "This is the source of the tradition of the walking of people between them (i.e. Safa and Marwa). When she reached the Marwa (for the last time) she heard a voice and she asked herself to be quiet and listened attentively. She heard the voice again and said, "O, (whoever you may be)! You have made me hear your voice; have you got something to help me?" And behold! She saw an angel at the place of Zam-zam, digging the earth with his heel (or his wing), till water flowed from that place. She started to make something like a basin around it, using her hand in this way, and started filling her water-skin with water with her hands, and the water was flowing out after she had scooped some of it."
The Prophet added, "May Allah bestow Mercy on Ishmael's mother! Had she let the Zam-zam (flow without trying to control it) (or had she not scooped from that water) (to fill her water-skin), Zam-zam would have been a stream flowing on the surface of the earth." The Prophet further added, "Then she drank (water) and suckled her child. The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid of being neglected, for this is the House of Allah which will be built by this boy and his father, and Allah never neglects His people.' The House (i.e. Kaba) at that time was on a high place resembling a hillock, and when torrents came, they flowed to its right and left. She lived in that way till some people from the tribe of Jurhum or a family from Jurhum passed by her and her child, as they (i.e. the Jurhum people) were coming through the way of Kada'. They landed in the lower part of Mecca where they saw a bird that had the habit of flying around water and not leaving it. They said, "This bird must be flying around water, though we know that there is no water in this valley.' They sent one or two messengers who discovered the source of water, and returned to inform them of the water. So, they all came (towards the water)." The Prophet added, "Ishmael's mother was sitting near the water. They asked her, "Do you allow us to stay with you?' She replied, "Yes, but you will have no right to possess the water.' They agreed to that." The Prophet further said, "Ishmael's mother was pleased with the whole situation as she used to love to enjoy the company of the people. So, they settled there, and later on they sent for their families who came and settled with them so that some families became permanent residents there. The child (i.e. Ishmael) grew up and learnt Arabic from them and (his virtues) caused them to love and admire him as he grew up, and when he reached the age of puberty they made him marry a woman from amongst them.
After Ishmael's mother had died, Abraham came after Ishmael's marriage in order to see his family that he had left before, but he did not find Ishmael there. When he asked Ishmael's wife about him, she replied, "He has gone in search of our livelihood.' Then he asked her about their way of living and their condition, and she replied, "We are living in misery; we are living in hardship and destitution,' complaining to him. He said, "When your husband returns, convey my salutation to him and tell him to change the threshold of the gate (of his house).' When Ishmael came, he seemed to have felt something unusual, so he asked his wife, "Has anyone visited you?' She replied, "Yes, an old man of so-and-so description came and asked me about you and I informed him, and he asked about our state of living, and I told him that we were living in a hardship and poverty.' On that Ishmael said, "Did he advise you anything?' She replied, "Yes, he told me to convey his salutation to you and to tell you to change the threshold of your gate.' Ishmael said, "It was my father, and he has ordered me to divorce you. Go back to your family.' So, Ishmael divorced her and married another woman from amongst them (i.e. Jurhum).
Then Abraham stayed away from them for a period as long as Allah wished and called on them again but did not find Ishmael. So he came to Ishmael's wife and asked her about Ishmael. She said, "He has gone in search of our livelihood.' Abraham asked her, "How are you getting on?' asking her about their sustenance and living. She replied, "We are prosperous and well-off (i.e. we have everything in abundance).' Then she thanked Allah' Abraham said, "What kind of food do you eat?' She said. "Meat.' He said, "What do you drink?' She said, "Water.' He said, "O Allah! Bless their meat and water." The Prophet added, "At that time they did not have grain, and if they had grain, he would have also invoked Allah to bless it." The Prophet added, "If somebody has only these two things as his sustenance, his health and disposition will be badly affected, unless he lives in Mecca." The Prophet added," Then Abraham said Ishmael's wife, "When your husband comes, give my regards to him and tell him that he should keep firm the threshold of his gate.' When Ishmael came back, he asked his wife, "Did anyone call on you?' She replied, "Yes, a good-looking old man came to me,' so she praised him and added. "He asked about you, and I informed him, and he asked about our livelihood and I told him that we were in a good condition.' Ishmael asked her, "Did he give you any piece of advice?' She said, "Yes, he told me to give his regards to you and ordered that you should keep firm the threshold of your gate.' On that Ishmael said, "It was my father, and you are the threshold (of the gate). He has ordered me to keep you with me.'
Then Abraham stayed away from them for a period as long as Allah wished, and called on them afterwards. He saw Ishmael under a tree near Zamzam, sharpening his arrows. When he saw Abraham, he rose up to welcome him (and they greeted each other as a father does with his son or a son does with his father). Abraham said, "O Ishmael! Allah has given me an order.' Ishmael said, "Do what your Lord has ordered you to do.' Abraham asked, "Will you help me?' Ishmael said, "I will help you.' Abraham said, Allah has ordered me to build a house here,' pointing to a hillock higher than the land surrounding it." The Prophet added, "Then they raised the foundations of the House (i.e. the Ka'ba). Ishmael brought the stones and Abraham was building, and when the walls became high, Ishmael brought this stone and put it for Abraham who stood over it and carried on building, while Ishmael was handing him the stones, and both of them were saying, "O our Lord! Accept (this service) from us, Verily, You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.' The Prophet added, "Then both of them went on building and going round the Ka'ba saying: O our Lord! Accept (this service) from us, Verily, You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing." (2.127) (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 55, Number 583)
This tradition clearly contradicts the biblical data that shows that Ishmael settled in Paran, not Mecca, and married an Egyptian, not an Arab. The above tradition states that Ishmael learnt Arabic from the tribe of (or a family from) Jurhum who settled in Mecca. Since Arabic is not Ishmael's mother tongue, and since Arabic as a language existed before, Ishmael cannot be the ancestor of Arabs. This means that the notion that Ishmael is the progenitor of the Arabs is erroneous. At most, Ishmael can only be called an Arabicized immigrant. The Muslim traditions prove that Ishmael is not the father of all the Arabs.
The Muslim traditions further complicate the problem. We are told:
Ma'n Ibn 'Isa al-Ashja'i al-Qazzaz (silk-merchant) informed us; he said: Mu'awiyah Ibn Salih informed us on the authority of Yahya Ibn Jabir who had seen some Companions of the Prophet and said: The people of Banu Fuhayrah came to the Prophet and said to him: You belong to us. He replied: Verily, (the archangel) Gabriel has informed me that I belong to Mudar. (Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Volume I, p. 4)
This indicates that Muhammad's genealogy was actually revelatory, not necessarily common knowledge. In fact, the people of Banu Fuhayrah did not know that Muhammad was a descendent of Mudar and Muhammad had to be informed by Gabriel that he was, not through common knowledge. This may form the basis of some hadiths:
Narrated Kulaib:
I was told by the Rabiba (i.e. daughter of the wife of the Prophet) who, I think, was Zainab, that the Prophet forbade the utensils (of wine called) Ad-Dubba, Al-Hantam, Al-Muqaiyar and Al-Muzaffat. I said to her, "Tell me as to which tribe the Prophet belonged; was he from the tribe of Mudar?" She replied, "He belonged to the tribe of Mudar and was from the offspring of An-Nadr bin Kinana." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 698)
--------
Muslim berpendapat bahwa Muhammad adalah keturunan Kedar dan oleh karena itu keturunan asli Ishmael. Sejarawan Muslim menelusuri garis keturunan Muhamad sampai seseorang bernama 'Adnan, konon seorang keturunanIshmael. Berikut diambil dari Dictionary of Islam TP Hughes, p. 217:
Adnan- Ma'add- Nizar- "Ilyas- Mudrikah- Khuzaimah- Kinanah- An-Nazr- Malik- Fihr- Luwaiy- Ka'b- Murrah- Kilab- Qusaiy- "Abdul Manaf- Hashim- Abdul Muttalib- Abdullah- Muhammad.
Dari situs Muslim :
Prophet Muhammad- Abdullah- Abd Al Muttalib- Hashim- Abd Manaf- Qusaiy- Kilab (Ancestor of the Holy Prophet's mother)- Murrah- Ka'b. Lu'ayy- Ghalib- Fihr- Malik- Al Nadr- Kinanah- Khuzaiymah- Mudrikah- Ilyas- Mudar- Nizar- Madd- `Adnan- Adad- Zayd- Yaqdud- Al Muqawwam- Al Yasa'- Nabt- Qaidar (Kedar)- Prophet Ismail (Alaihi Salaam)- Prophet Ibrahim (Alaihi Salaam)- Tarih- Nahur (Nahor)- Sharukh- Ar'u- Farigh- `Abir- Shalikh- Arfikhishd- Sam (Shem)- Prophet Nuh (Noah) (Alaihi Salaam)- Lamak- Mutawshilkh- Khanukh- Burrah- Mihlayil- Kaynun- Anuus- Shees (Seth) (Alaihi Salaam)- Prophet Adam (Alaihi Salaam). (Source.)
Dari pihak ibu daftarnya adalah : Muhamad - Aminah - Wahab - Abd Manaf - Zuhrah - Kilab, sama spt Kilab dari pihak Muhamad. Referensi ini didapatkan dari Ibn Al Jawzy via Abi Muhammad Ibn Al Samarqandi lewat `Ali Ibn `Ubayd of Kufa, sahabat Tha'lib Muhammad ibn Abdullah.
Genealogy berikut diambil dari Syed Yusuf:
1 Abraham Hanifa (AS), ayah dari
2 Isma'il (AS) was the father of
3 Kedar was the father of
4 "Adnaan was the father of
5 Ma'add was the father of
6 Nizaar was the father of
7 Mudar was the father of
8 Ilyaas was the father of
9 Mudrikah was the father of
10 Khuzaimah was the father of
11 Kinaanah was the father of
12 Al-Nadr was the father of
13 Maalik was the father of
14 Quraysh was the father of
15 Ghaalib was the father of
16 Lu'ayy was the father of
17 Ka'ab was the father of
18 Murrah was the father of
19 Kilaab was the father of
20 Qusayy was the father of
21 "Abd Manaaf was the father of
22 Haashim was the father of
23 "Abdul Muttalib was the father of
24 "Abdullah was the father of
25 Muhammad (SAW)
3) JARAK GENEALOGI TERLALU JAUH
Genealogi2 diatas memaparkan beberapa problema. Yg pertama : jarak waktu, spt dikatakan dibawah ini :
"Kalau memang cuma ada empat generasia antara Adnan dan Ishmael, maka ada 24-25 generasi antara Muhamad dan Abraham yg berjarak 2500 tahun. Ini berarti ada jarak 100 tahun antara setiap satu generasi ke generasi lain, hal yg agak sulit dipercaya.
Dilain pihak, melihat pada reference 2 (?), kami mendapat sekitar 32-33 generasi antara Abraham dan Muhamad, yg memberi kami jarak antar generasi sebanyak 75 thn. IniPUN masih dianggap tinggi.
Mugnkin ada beberapa nama atau generasi yg tidak tercatat. Namun, kalau HADIS sendiri mengatakan ada EMPAT generasi antara Adnan dan
Ishmael, maka kita lagi2 dihadapkan pada masalah. Kalau hadis ini benar, maka genealogi Muslim sudah pasti SALAH! Sulit dibayangkan begitu banyaknya jarak 100 tahun antara satu generasi ke generasi lain ! Kalau hadis itu PALSU, wah ... revot lagi deh !
Daftar Yusuf diatas dikomentari oleh situs FreeThoughtMecca :
First of all, there are only 24 generations from Abraham to Muhammad, which is quite fantastic. Now, if we grant 30 years to each generation (i.e. make the generous assumption that each male fathered his respective son by age 30), this would place Abraham some time around 150 BCE. The math behind such a conclusion goes as follows:
30 X 24 = 720
Muhammad was allegedly born 570 CE
570 - 720 = -150.
The oldest existing texts to mention Abraham are found among the scrolls from Qumran (so-called "Dead Sea Scrolls"), which date anywhere from the 3rd century BCE to 68 CE. With that in mind it is reasonable to assume that writing already existed on Abraham (as well as numerous later Biblical heroes, such as Isaac, Jacob, Moses, et cetera) at the time the above genealogy places the patriarch. Of course, this is a moot point, as no Muslim would ever try and place Abraham's life around 150 BCE.
The only way out of this would be to take a page from the Judeo-Christian folklore, and start postulating wild scenarios, where patriarchs don't reach puberty until 90, father children at 120, and finally die some time around 200 years of age! Of course that is just plain absurd, and it shows the extent of the silliness found in the "intellectual" religion known as al-Islaam. (source; bold emphasis ours)
Apart from the disparaging remarks regarding the age of some of the Patriarchs, the problem with the Muslim genealogies stands out clearly.
The second problem with these genealogies is that they are written long after Muhammad's rise to fame. In other words, these are not based on pre-Islamic records but records compiled by Muslims after the death of Muhammad. It is not hard to imagine Muslims concocting genealogies around biblical figures in order to legitimize Muhammad's claim to prophethood. Let us point again to this hadith:
Ma'n Ibn 'Isa al-Ashja'i al-Qazzaz (silk-merchant) informed us; he said: Mu'awiyah Ibn Salih informed us on the authority of Yahya Ibn Jabir who had seen some Companions of the Prophet and said: The people of Banu Fuhayrah came to the Prophet and said to him: You belong to us. He replied: Verily, (the archangel) Gabriel has informed me that I belong to Mudar. (Ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, Volume I, p. 4)
If this is true, then the genealogy of Muhammad was not known to either himself or his clan. Otherwise he could have appealed to general knowledge and would not have had to appeal to revelation to place himself in a certain descendency. To be a descendant of Ishmael (via Mudar) was a claim that started with Muhammad's own words but without historical evidence even in his life time. In the end, it comes down to nothing but an unsubstantiated claim from Muhammad, ... or from later Muslims who put this into his mouth.
The third problem with these above lists is that they are not even consistent with that given by Ibn Ishaq in his Sirat Rasulullah. Ibn Ishaq, the earliest biographer of Muhammad traces his line to Ishmael through Nabit (Nebaioth), not Kedar. Here is Ibn Ishaq's list:
MUHAMMAD'S PURE DESCENT FROM ADAM
Abu Muhammad "Abdul Malik ibn Hisham the Grammarian said:
This is the book of the biography of the apostle of God.
Muhammad was the son of "Abdullah, b. "Abdu'l-Muttalib (whose name was Shayba), b. Hashim (whose name was Amr), b. "Abdu Manaf (whose name was al-Mughira), b. Qusayy (whose name was Zayd). B. Kilab, b. Murra, b. Ka'b, b. Lu'ayy, b. Ghalib, b. Fihr, b. Malik, b. al-Nadr, b. Kinana, b. Khuzayma, b. Mudrika (whose name was "Amir), b. Ilyas, b. Mudar, b. Nizar, b. Ma' add, b. "Adnan, b. Udd (or Udad), b. Muqawwam, b. Nahur, b.'Tayrah, b. Ya'rub, b. Yashjub, b. Nabit, b. Isma'il, b. Ibrahim, the friend of the Compassionate, b. Tarih (who is Azar), b. Nahur, b. Sarugh, b. Ra'u, b. Falikh, b. "Aybar, b. Shalikh, b. Arfakhshadh, b. Sam, b. Nuh, b. Lamk, b. Mattushalakh, b. Akhnukh, who is the prophet Idris according to what they allege, but God knows best (he was the first of the sons of Adam to whom prophecy and writing with a pen were given), b. Yard, b. Mahlil, b. Qaynan, b. Yanish, b. Shith, b. Adam.
THE LINE OF ISMAIL
Isma'il b. Ibrahim begat twelve sons: Nabit the elder, Qaydhar, Adhbul, Mabsha, Misma, Mashi, Dimma, Adhr, Tayma, Yatur, Nabish, Qaydhuma. Their mother was Ra'la d. Mudad b. "Amr al-Jurhumi (II). Jurhum was the son of Yaqtan b. "Aybar b. Shalikh, and [Yaqtan was] Qahtan b. "Aybar b. Shalikh. According to report Isma'il lived 130 years, and when he died he was buried in the sacred precincts of the K'aba besides his mother Hagar (I2). (The Life of Muhammad, trans. Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, tenth impression 1995], pp. 3-4; bold emphasis ours)
Ishaq is basically in agreement with the Holy Bible regarding the names and number of sons born to Ishmael. The only difference being is that Ishaq believes that these sons were conceived from Ra'la a Jurhumite.
This leads us to our final problem. The veracity of these records is based primarily on the assumption that Ishmael settled in Mecca and married a Jurhumite woman. Since Ishmael did not settle in Mecca, but in Paran, and married an Egyptian this means that neither Kedar nor Nebaioth could have been the ancestor of the Meccan Arabs.
There are certain Islamic scholars who readily admit this fact. The late Egyptian Professor, Dr. Taha Husayn, considered one of the foremost authorities on Arabic literature, while commenting on the story of Abraham and Ishmael building the Kabah, states:
"The case for this episode is very obvious because it is of recent date and came into vogue just before the rise of Islam. Islam exploited it for religious reasons." (As quoted in Mizan al-Islam by Anwar al-Jundi, p. 170 as found in Behind the Veil, p. 184, source; bold emphasis ours)
In his rebuttal to Dr. Robert A. Morey's book Islamic Invasion, W. Aliyyuddin Shareef, is honest enough to admit:
"In pre-Islamic times Ishmael was never mentioned as the Father of the Arabs." (Shareef, In response to Robert Morey's Islamic Invasion, pp. 3-4; bold emphasis ours)
Writer Camilla Adang, in a footnote from her book Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm, mentions:
... Ishmael is considered the progenitor of the Arabs. Dagon (1981) has shown that this idea is an Islamic construction AND THAT NO CONNECTION BETWEEN ISHMAEL AND THE ARABS HAD EVER BEEN MADE IN THE PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD. Already in the first Islamic century, however, Ishmael came to symbolize the Islamic Umma, and biblical passages about Ishmael were taken to refer to Muhammad, the Arabs, or the Muslim community. (Adang, p. 147, fn. 37: E.J. Brill Academic Publishers; August 1997 ISBN: 9004100342; bold and capital emphasis ours)
Former Muslim turned to atheist Ibn Warraq writes:
We are told that [Abraham] was born in Chaldea, and that he was the son of a poor potter who earned his living by making little clay idols. It is scarcely credible that the son of this potter went to Mecca, 300 leagues away in the tropics, by way of impassable deserts. If he was a conqueror he no doubt aimed at the fine country of Assyria; and if he was only a poor man, as he is depicted, he founded no kingdoms in foreign parts. — Voltaire
For the historian, the Arabs are no more the descendents of Ishmael, son of Abraham, than the French are of Francus, son of Hector. — Maxime Rodinson
It is virtually certain that Abraham never reached Mecca. — Montgomery Watt
The essential point ... is that, where objective fact has been established by sound historical methods, it must be accepted. — Montgomery Watt
According to Muslim tradition, Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba, the cube-like structure in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca. But outside these traditions there is absolutely no evidence for this claim - whether epigraphic, archaelogical, or documentary. Indeed Snouck Hurgronje has shown that Muhammad invented the story to give his religion an Arabian origin and setting; with this brilliant improvisation Muhammad established the independence of his religion, at the same time incorporating into Islam the Kaaba with all its historical and religious associations for the Arabs. (Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not A Muslim [Prometheus Books, Amherst NY 1995], p. 131; bold emphasis ours)
Finally, Islamicist Alfred Guillaume notes:
"... there is no historical evidence for the assertion that Abraham or Ishmael was ever in Mecca, and if there had been such a tradition it would have to be explained how all memory of the Old Semitic name Ishmael (which was not in its true Arabian form in Arabian inscriptions and written correctly with an initial consonant Y) came to be lost. The form in the Quran is taken either from Greek or Syriac sources." (Alfred Guillaume, Islam [Penguin Books Inc., Baltimore, 1956], pp. 61-62)
In case Muslims want to claim that the biblical text has been tampered with, it should be pointed out that the Jews would have no reason to distort the location of Paran since there was neither Christians nor Muslims around when these texts were written. Therefore, claiming textual distortion will not solve the problem for the Muslims.
In light of all this confusion, it becomes evident that the biblical data is more precise and accurate since it is much older and closer to these events. Since the Holy Bible indicates that Ishmael never settled in Mecca he therefore cannot be the father of the Arabs that settled there. In other words, Muhammad is not a descendant of Ishmael.
In the service of our great God and Savior, the risen Lord of eternal glory, Jesus Christ. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. We love you always.
Additional source material is found in ‘Ishmael Is Not the Father Of Muhammad’ Revisited.




